Danger Signs // Demi Lovato // 4

48. Easy To Fall, Easy To Break

January 31, 2022

After seeing Tess's roller coaster of emotions, by the end of the month, she seemed to be doing better. But I knew it wasn't water in her plastic bottle that she began carrying around. I had seen that trick too many times to be fooled by it. Nobody else gave a second thought to it, even though she wanted to drink every time we were together.

As the concerned friend I was, I brought this up to Jay.

"She's happy, well, as happy as she can be. I'm watching her," she said.

"Not close enough," I muttered, not happy with her dismissiveness, but also not wanting to fight. It was the end of the day, and I was just ready to get home and work on the massive amount of homework I had.

Maia picked me up and I got in her car without a word.

"Have a good day?" she asked, trying to make small talk while she drove.

"Eh," I said, looking out the window. I was able to see her glance at me, and thankfully, she didn't push the subject.

We made it home and I started to go straight up the stairs, but she stopped me. I held the rail, my feet on two different steps and looked down at her.

There was a crease between her eyebrows, her eyes sad. "Rosie," she started, then sighed. "I'm just worried about you. And I know things may be hard to talk about, but I understand, or I can try to. I'm here for you, okay? I care so much, and I need to know that you'll talk to me, or Demi, if there's a problem."

All I could do was nod as my eyes started burning and I ran up to my room, backpack bouncing against my lower back. I slipped it off and threw it next to my desk, shutting the door behind me.

I knew I should probably tell Maia about my concerns with Tess, but I had no idea what she would be able to do, if anything. I was also afraid of her finding out the truth of what I was doing when I wasn't home. Part of me didn't think she'd be too mad about the weed, but I was so conflicted about everything I couldn't think straight.

I spent a couple hours just sitting on my bed, staring at the black screen of the TV, unable to do anything. My head snapped to the door when I heard the knob turn and Maia's head popped in.

"Hey, are you hungry? I wanted to go out to eat, you can pick."

I had quickly wiped the depressing look off my face and nodded. "Let me change, real quick," I said, stretching my legs out before getting up. Maia closed the door and I picked out a clean pair of boot-cut jeans and a white blouse with long, loose sleeves.

I groaned, looking in the mirror. The jeans had fit so well when I tried them on in the store, but now they felt wrong. And the blouse was cute, but it was too loose. I quickly stripped it off, along with my jeans, finding a tight, navy blue T-shirt and light blue skinny jeans.

I groaned louder as I sucked in my stomach, trying to button the jeans, but they were just too small.

I couldn't get them off fast enough, throwing clothes around until I found some darker jeans and put them on. But my shirt was too dark to go with them, so I went back to my closet, finding a shirt with a hole in it. Groaning, I threw it behind me and was shocked to hear a shriek.

I spun around, still in my bra, to see Maia holding the shirt I had just tossed.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking at the mess of clothes all over the floor and bed. "Rosie?" Her eyes softened as she saw mine fill with tears. She rushed over to me, hugging me as I sobbed into her shoulder.

I hiccupped as I tried to tell her nothing would fit right or work out.

"Shh, it's okay. We don't have to go out. I know all this is hard, losing a good friend, but it'll get better. Shit has to fall apart for it to fall together."

I pulled back enough to look at her. "You read that on a Dove wrapper." Maia loved Dove chocolate, especially the dark kind, and I often saw the foil wrappers around with their little quotes on the inside.

"Well, it didn't say shit, but it's true. Things are rough now, but it'll work out in the end."